For Those Who Remember
by Lord Mendasuit
Summary: The sacrifice of one benefits many. One who gave his power, his self and everything he had for the rest lies forgotten by most. However, he faces his sacrifice for a smile. For those who remember, after all, he is willing to endure any and all pain.
1. First The Flay

Flay absent mindedly let his pipe rest on his desk as he sat back and let a long, suffering sigh out. He stood up after a few brief moments and walked around his desk and moved to the rug that dominated the center of his office, right next to the wall that hid the portal that he'd discovered lead to the mana world.

On that wall were very few things, truly. Only one of the things resting against it held any importance to Flay whatsoever.

On that wall was a perfectly standard Pyre Blade. Or so it seemed. It had hardly any customization made upon it to suggest it was anything but the most basic mechsword, issued to every bounty hunter and the favorite of people new to their use.

The vice-principal let a smile dominate his face as he crossed his arms and merely contemplated the weapon. So lost was he in his musings that he barely even noticed his current pet project's entrance into his office. He briefly wondered what the boy would want in his office. He hadn't issued any assignments for today (as today's class had been on pain tolerance and he'd spent the entire class beating his students senseless) so the boy's visit was weird. "Yo." He offered, looking at the boy from the corner of his eye.

Ennarcia, his name was. Friends called him Enna. Real name Etward. Flay knew his apprentices well, and the boy's name was a sore spot that he could exploit at any point. Flay saw the blue haired boy's eyes be drawn to the wall where his Pyre Blade rested briefly, before he turned back to Flay and launched a rant about something or other.

In his mind, the vice-principal was already devising a test. "Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, completely ignoring the fact that the boy had been speaking. Probably something unimportant, else he'd probably make a fuzz about it.

"Huh?" Enna seemed caught completely off guard by the statement. "It's the most basic kind of mechsword." The boy informed.

"Why don't you take a closer look?" Flay asked, laughed and grabbed the weapon off its stand, offering it to Enna. "Careful, it's sharp." He warned.

Enna did as asked, though he sported a less than pleased look on his face. His expression went through several changes, going from bemusement to cautious curiosity, and then to open curiosity as he triggered the mechanism that split the weapon and opened it up, revealing the myriad internal weapons it held. "The craftsmanship on this is…" He spoke. "It's as if every single part was custom made from the best materials available… This isn't a simple mechsword." Enna stated, as he went about carefully analyzing every part he could without taking the blade apart.

Doing so would be an insult to mechanics everywhere, as the weapon was as close to perfection as it came. He observed the weapon in its entirety, as much as he could. "This… The mechanic who made this should be famous. His skills are incomparable… Do you know who-"

"Of course I know who made it. I was there when he made it for me, after all." Flay said, grinning. "Though it wasn't a mechanic by any stretch of the word. The man who made this was an alchemist… a damn good one, at that." The redheaded man said, moving towards his desk and grabbing his pipe, quickly putting it back in its proper place. "And an even better friend. Tell you what… you can keep it. Study his work… who knows, maybe you'll be the first person in the planet skilled enough to recreate it."

Enna didn't have to be told twice to take the blade and depart, rushing to his workshop. Absent mindedly, Flay noted that the boy had never finished explaining whatever had motivated him to visit his office.

After that, Flay went to stare out the window. The distant setting sun saw him offering the flying island that was the Academy Of Al-Revis a sad grin. "The world goes on, hero…" Flay stated, crossing his arms. "I guess this is what I saw in you, huh? I knew you'd be a better hero than I could ever hope to be… "

* * *

They thought they could hide their presences from him. How cute.

He turned to look at the obvious followers and gave the blue haired boy bordering on manhood who wasn't even bothering to hide himself a wink. The teenager nodded, grimly, and turned around to walk away.

Today was not a day in which Flay found himself in the mood for his usual antics.

Still, it was one day a year that this happened. The Flay Cave gathered only at this time, and so, Flay was not precisely willing to perform his usual antics. Not even he felt the need to break the somber mood. Yet… Even despite the somber mood that permeated the Wind's Corridor, Flay sported a grin as he watched one of the few people he could call friends lay a thick bouquet of flowers upon the ancient temple dedicated to the sacrifice of a mana.

He'd probably have to explain this to the kids who'd seen him.

It'd do them some good to know whose sacrifice it was that enabled their ability to study in Al-Revis.


	2. Second The Chewtoy

"So… we need a replacement for Tony." Zeppel Kriever, Al-Revis' Powerless Principal, stated, sitting behind his desk as if it meant anything.

Flay, the Almighty Vice-Principal, grinned and placed a file against the Principal's desk.

"Him?" The Chairman asked. "We don't have the kind of budget necessary to pay someone like that to be a mere teacher!"

The redhead laughed uproariously. "You forget that he's a graduate from here. This place still has some sentimental value for him… he'll do it for free if I ask him."

"Coming from you, I wouldn't doubt it… Weren't you guys in the same workshop?" Asked Zeppel.

"Yeah." Flay said, crossing his arm. "He owes me a couple favors from back then."

* * *

Lily groaned. Mister Tony was a jackass, there was no doubt about it. He never gave them time to prepare for his assignments, barely if ever explained anything and was, generally, a terrible teacher. He also kept trying to compete with Flay and she was starting to think that the older Vice Principal was merely humoring him.

He had yet to lose a single one of their bouts, after all, and Flay made it a point to show just how far above them he was. It was kind of hard for her to think that he had only received alchemist training and the rest of his badassery was natural. According to Raze, the man made it a point to teach them everything they needed to perform their weapons' maintenance and went to length about the advantages that an alchemic weapon held over a simple, mass-produced weapon.

It wasn't fair that somebody was that ridiculously cool on their own. It was even less fair that Raze got such a cool teacher and Lily got stuck with Mister Tony, who often made it a point to annoy the class as much as he could. Well, at least the man was a half decent alchemist and actually had a lot of knowledge to share, when he wanted to share it.

Plus, he was so pathetic it was actually sort of funny.

Mister Tony had explained, last week, that he'd be taking leave for a month at the very least because his wife was about to give birth and he wasn't keen on letting her go through that alone. Somebody had made the sound of a whip cracking and had been threatened with failure, which only caused people to laugh even more.

Nobody knew who would replace the teacher that had been their homeroom teacher for the last six months.

It was then that a young man wearing a longcoat of a very dark color bordering on purple, walked into the room, a long, golden ponytail trailing behind him. The man was the epitome of seriousness and the glint of his glasses reflecting the light sent chills down Lily's spine. That was surprisingly scary. Tony had been replaced by a man who seemed to be even more of a jackass than the redhead had been.

"My name is Roxis Rosenkrantz." Stated the only grown man in the room. "I will be your Synthesis teacher for the remainder of the year." He stated, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "I'm going to assume that Tony wasn't taking his job very seriously, so today, we will do a review to see how far you've come."

Lily heard the hushed whispers that preceded the revelation of who their teacher was. Had Lily come from a family of alchemists, she would've known him on sight. As she did, in fact, come from a family of alchemists, she had no problem recognizing him. The man before them was an alchemist who was quickly approaching legendary stature. Roxis Rosenkrantz had brought prestige back to his family after generations of failures.

Alchemist circles often referred to his many works wherever there was doubt and his knowledge of the art was unquestionable.

She was speechless at that fact. After all, she rarely, if ever, was pleased by any turn of events. However, she literally couldn't have a better teacher for the art of alchemy and, as he launched into his explanation of the basics of alchemy, with the intent of patching all the holes that Tony had left in their education, Lily let a wide smile come to her face.

She'd been having problems with a particular synthesis lately and, while Tony couldn't help her (apparently, anything clothing was absolutely not his are of expertise), she was certain that Roxis could.

* * *

"A… Collar?" Roxis asked, raising an eyebrow.

It started with a twitch of his lips. Then it was his chest shaking. Right then and there, the incredibly serious and professional image of Roxis Rosenkrantz was dashed by the image of the same man laughing his ass off. "Hey!" Lily cried in indignation. How dare he laugh at her? What did he think she was making it for? "It's how I increase Whim's powers!"

"Whim is your mana, correct?" Roxis asked, suddenly straightening up.

Lily nodded instantly.

Roxis turned to look away and when he turned back, Lily could've sworn she saw the ghost of a sad, nostalgic smile on his face. "Yes, I do know how to make a collar. I have just the thing…"

Roxis went to dig through the rather large bookcase that dominated one of the walls of his office. He went at it for a good five minutes before he found the book he had been searching for. All this time, Lily was actually surprised to find that a majority of the books on his shelf had names she didn't recognize on them.

The most prominent of those were the books written by a man named 'Theofratus Aurelius'.

The rich girl found a book on her hands before she could even think about asking about said author.

It was hand-penned by the very same man in front of her, though it was vastly different from the books the man usually wrote. The ones he wrote were almost clinical in nature, straight to the point with very little fluff. Incredibly informative, easy to understand and remarkably accurate but slightly boring.

The book that Roxis had handed Lily was obviously copied from something else. It clashed too bad with the man's usual style.

"This is a copy of the original. The original is priceless and I don't want to part with it." Roxis explained. "It was written by an old friend of mine. It's his personal recipe book."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Did he have a mana similar to Whim?" She absent mindedly asked. She noticed that a few of the recipes shed bought from the Student Store actually matched the ones written in the book, save for a few minor variations in the ingredients list. Every little variation came with a paragraph that explained the difference in final product in Roxis' flowing handwriting.

"Not exactly." Roxis answered. "Regardless… I have given you a great boon for your synthesis. I will expect equal work in turn. Turn to the last recipe."

Lily did as requested and came to the ingredient list of the most powerful collar in the list. This one actually caused her to gasp. The ingredients that conformed it were the rarest and most ridiculously complicated to obtain. Heck, it was easier making gold from dirt than it was to obtain some of those ingredients. Although the finished product supposedly boosted one's capabilities beyond anything Lily had ever seen.

Heck, it required the crystallized energy of the elements to make! How the hell did she went about obtaining THAT?

"This… Is what you should ultimately aim to. Obtaining the ingredients is much easier than actually making the collar itself, believe me."

Lily walked out of the man's office with the book clutched in her hands. Whim, who had waited outside, talking with the wolf-like creature that was the Mana Of Light, raised one eyebrow when she saw the evil smile on her master's face.

"Well, little girl, your nightmare is about to come true. If Roxis gave your master what I think he did, then you're in for quite a few explosive failures." The wolf mana spoke, disappearing into a sphere of light.

Whim sighed and trailed after Lily, trying to come up with a way to put a barrier of ice between her and the cauldron at all times…


	3. Third The Daydreamer

Roxis was not having a good day. Far be it from him to take it on his students, but their rather startling lack of dedication to the craft of alchemy despite it being their chosen profession (it was no longer a required course in Al-Revis since a while) was not particularly helpful to the task of alleviating his stress.

"A recipe's outcome can vary from as much as a single grain of sand in its composition." The bespectacled teacher explained, adjusting his glasses and discreetly rubbing his temples, trying to will the headache away. "Although minimal, the variations still occur, therefore, no two items are ever the exact same."

"But if the difference is so small why make a point of it?" Someone asked, after raising their hand and getting permission to do so from Roxis, of course. The last person to interrupt the teacher while he explained as rudely as they often did with Tony did not like the punishment synthesis he'd had to do. He still stank of sulfur.

"Negligible or not, the difference could still cause an entirely different ether effect." That was not entirely a lie since, very few times, it really was that close, but in most cases, it really wasn't necessary to eye your ingredients that closely. He was just taking the edge of his stress off through annoying his alumni. "Regardless, you should keep that in mind when you're having problems attaining a specific ether effect for your items."

The lesson on the specifics of how to draw out a particular ether level on the item you were creating, ranging from altering the input ingredients to utilizing special synthesis techniques, was quite lengthy and very much interesting for the few students who truly had an aspiration to being great alchemists one day.

The rest found it very useful for a certain teacher's propensity to ask for very hard to get ether effects as well as the simple fact that Roxis, inadvertently, had given them the secret of creating prank food such as spicy, burn-your-tongue hot ice cream and literally hard, unfrozen water. Roxis had found the shine on Lily's eyes when she got a new idea to make Whim develop yet another ability more than a little scary.

Regardless, he had far too much to do today.

First of all, he had to blow Flay up for even suggesting the insanity he had.

* * *

Razeluxe, known to his friends as Raze, was the combat class' resident prodigy. Good grades all around (Even in the limited alchemy classes the warriors took), known to be contested by no less than three females (one of which was prepubescent, another of which was completely oblivious to the nature of a relationship and the other one being the holder of his contract as a mercenary, not that the rumor mill cared), maybe four if one counted that girl he constantly fought with (he blamed it on her mana, that thing pissed him off to no end for some reason).

He was also a bit of a snarky bastard, but that only made him funny whenever he wasn't snarking at you, and since most of his snark was oft directed at the insanity of Vice Principal Flay or back and forth banter with Yun or Puni Taro, most people had more laughs than they did embarrassment at his tongue.

This made not snarking at the sudden revelation very, very difficult. "You cannot be serious." He said, taking a step back, but keeping himself within the sphere of the conversation.

"Oh, but I am." The vice principal said, grinning widely, ignoring his bleeding left eyebrow, where he'd been hit with the flat side of a very long and thin weapon that Raze couldn't in good conscience call a two handed sword despite its size. Not after seeing its owner.

"Flay, I swear to god, I will kill you for this." A shapely young woman who seemed to be in her mid twenties, her light blue hair swaying back and forth with the wind, as did her strange clothes. It was apparent that she was from the far east land. "I came to visit him. You can't turn this into a game."

Despite being minuscule in comparison to the size of the vice principal and being small when compared to Raze himself, the woman carried an undeniable aura of authority and power that made Raze dread the day she met Lily and taught her to act this way.

"You're too serious, Anna." Flay said, grinning widely. "He's okay with it."

The woman glared at the redhead combat teacher, before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Fine." She said, before turning to greet Raze. "Hello, my name is Anna Lemouri, I used to be one of the members of Flay's workshop. My apologies for not introducing myself earlier, I tend to get a little carried away." She said, offering Raze a pretty smile. "I will be accompanying you and your workshop through the Old Schoolhouse's lower levels."

The old schoolhouse was closed off to everyone. Even delinquents were quickly hunted and driven off it. It was populated by mostly weak monsters, but it was apparent that behind the doors that led to the closed areas beneath the surface of the flying island were monsters unlike anything else.

Why, Flay had explained the reason why they kept such a tight watch on it more than once, during class. "Isn't it supposed to have unbelievably powerful monsters?" Raze asked, clearly confused at Flay's insistency that they stay away, yet being perfectly willing to have them escort another alchemist to the deepest parts of the Old Schoolhouse.

"It is." Flay said, a grin on his face. "Simply put, if I sent you guys alone, you'd be horribly murdered. Fifteen years ago, it took all seven of us to get to lot 50. And that took us an entire week to execute, nevermind the time we spent planning our way in and out."

"We're older and more powerful, today." Anna informed Raze, who looked skeptical still. She then raised the blade she was holding. If Raze wasn't mistaken, then it was just a simple Katana with a red and white, ornate sheath. It didn't seem like anything special. She brought the sheathed weapon down and smacked Flay in the face with it. "That doesn't mean I can protect several students from these things! I still have a hard time killing them, and I know you do too."

Something that Vice Principal Flay had trouble with? The man was basically invincible, so much so that at some point a giant monstrosity of a dragon had turned tail and ran away from merely sighting him after it was done smacking the combat class around.

It was then that the Principal chose to make his presence known. "I can't allow you to do this, Flay." The blond man said, looking as impressive as a leaf in the wind. "The Old Schoolhouse is forbidden to everyone but the staff and you know why."

The woman's face turned from mildly annoyed, but still pleasant, to a frown and then quickly to a scowl. "You work here still?" Anna said, looking at the man critically. "I thought you'd quit…"

The principal yelped and quaked in his boots at the sight of the woman glaring at him, before sputtering a protest and running away. Who was this woman? Just about everything she did screamed that she was just as mysteriously powerful as the Vice Principal was. She also went against most customs.

The fact that she had chosen not to wear a skirt but rather long black pants and a rather unflattering black sweater was a very minor, if slightly interesting fact, given how often it seemed that the alumni of Al-Revis went for dangerously risqué clothing. If Raze had to guess, she was probably a fighter, and a quite experienced one.

If nothing else, at least experienced enough to put her in the same league as the Vice Principal.

Zeppel Kriever was the most unthreatening man Raze had ever known, chronically incapable of standing up to anyone and very much lacking a spine. So it was odd to see people that held a grudge against him when he bent over backwards to please everyone.

Mighty interesting, indeed.

"Anna?" A sudden voice rang through the empty hall. "Are you ready?" Following it came a golden haired man, looking not unlike he'd had to wait for hours already.

Huh? It seemed that the alchemists' current homeroom teacher, Roxis Rosencrantz, also seemed to know this lady. He was an alchemist on the level of the ancient legends himself, so…

Raze didn't feel the smile that threatened to blossom into a grin on his face. Al-Revis had somehow ended up with three of the no doubt strongest people in the planet gathered in one place. He actually longed to see those three in combat.


	4. Fourth The Wanderer

Roxis furrowed his brow and made his discomfort with the idea shown. He crossed his arms and took in a deep breath. They were at the ruined gates of the old schoolhouse, the old dorms were but a few feet away, and from there, they'd access the closed area reserved solely for the faculty.

It didn't take them long to be knee deep in the undead, demons and alchemic abominations as they cut a path through to the closed off area. Well, it was mostly the students doing it, as both Roxis and Anna were hanging back and letting them take care of the majority of the work. If questioned, they would say that they were simply overkill for this place.

"No, Et, I told you why we can't bring Enna along!" Snapped Razeluxe, the boy who had caused this entire debacle in the first place by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and piquing Flay's curiosity. It was a shame that Roxis hadn't wrung Flay's neck when he'd had the chance. He'd have avoided this entire mess.

"But we're strong!" the girl who was even now juggling her oversized, razor-sharp chakram. "He's strong too, remember? He came with us on the training trip!"

Anna opened her mouth to counter that statement, but she was beat to it when Roxis sharply turned around. "You may be strong, but you're not strong enough." Roxis snapped, narrowing his eyes.

The mana of fire that accompanied this party didn't seem particularly enthused at the idea of the trip in the first place, but he looked dubiously at the golden haired teacher. "I have been to plenty of dangerous places…" He said.

Roxis abruptly turned himself to face the red skinned individual, with a simple glare and a silent message that Yun caught instantly. There was no point in discussing, then, if the man was so sure they were screwed if they came in alone.

"If this is so dangerous, why are we going in?" Lily asked, wondering exactly why they were committing what amounted to suicide.

"Yeah, we shouldn't take Puniyo to such a dangerous place." Puni Jiro piped in.

"I swear, I've seen you somewhere before…" Puni Taro mumbled to himself.

Anna sighed. "We don't want to bring you here, but Flay asked us to and… let's just say that he has a way of convincing people to do what he wants them to do." She said, rubbing her temple and trying to ward off an incoming headache. "Stick to us at all times and do not engage any monster under any circumstances."

Flay pushed up his glasses, adjusting them so he could see after his sudden movements had jarred them from their proper spot. "Lily… you were wondering where you could get the refined elemental cores needed for the higher level recipes in the book I gave you, didn't you?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "You gave her his-"

Roxis sharply cut her off by shaking his head, and she let out a loud 'oh', before she turned back to the blonde who seemed to be dawning in realization that she could obtain some ridiculously rare, ludicrously expensive and insanely useful ingredients. "Oh! So they're found here, then? Are they some kind of Ore, then, since they're found underground…"

Roxis shook his head. It was at that time that the Mana Of Light chose to appear in a flash of light. "Hah!" The creature seemed to find the whole exchange amusing. "You haven't even explained what these are, Roxis? I knew there was hope for you yet." The creature said.

"I don't know what's amusing about this." Anna said, glaring at the wolf-like mana.

"Oh, I know!" The mana said. "Her reaction!" it added, turning to Lily, who was there very confused. Then it focused on the Mana Of Ice clinging to that girl's arm, Whim. "You haven't told her, either?"

Whim merely shook her head and didn't look particularly willing to explain it either.

"Wait, so you knew?" Asked Lily, glaring at her maid slash mana. "You could've told me where to get them all this time! I was struggling to gather these and you could've told me all along!" She yelled, grabbing her maid's cheeks and stretching them as she ranted.

"I'm sowwy!" The maid cried, her voice distorted by Lily's efforts. Shortly after, Lily let her go. "But if I'd told you, you'd have come rushing here!"

'Here' was a giant black gate covered with chains and locks. "Oh, we're here." Raze absent mindedly noted. "Well, that's awfully convenient… Weren't we just entering the closed off area a while ago?"

"We made a shortcut some time ago." Anna said, a particularly short and to the point explanation. "It's kinda sad not to have everyone with us…"

"They're busy, Anna. Pamela said she'd come next week and Nikki had a concert, she'll probably run all the way here as soon as it's done. So… tomorrow, probably." The teacher explained, crossing his arms once more and glaring at the penumbra. Then he turned around and addressed the entire workshop again. "I will only explain this once, so listen up. If you see a human, you run. No questions asked, no exceptions. If you see anything that looks remotely human, you run away, understood?"

A chorus of 'yeah' answered him. Anna decided to take over. "Don't wander around, even if the lot appears clean of enemies." She spoke. "You will get a chance to harvest some rare ingredients along the way. Don't put yourselves at risk to get them, however."

Lily pouted. "You still haven't told me what those are."

The Mana of Light chuckled then. "I guess it's up to me, then." It said, lazily walking up to Lily and sitting itself on its hind paws to look directly at the rich girl. "They're the crystallized remains of ancient mana."

"The crystawhat?" Et wondered out loud.

"Basically, it's the corpses of the greatest mana of each element." The wolf simplified.

"So we're using…"

"It's not too different from using the bones of animals as ingredient…" Raze pointed out.

"Hm… So Mana are the same as animals, then?" Yun asked, deadpan in tone and face.

"Puni punii!" Puniyo chirped in.

"My sister says that's racist." Puni Jiro translated.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Raze defended himself.

"Then, would you use human remains as an ingredient?" The Mana of Flame asked.

It was then that Roxis cut into the conversation by clearing his throat, avoiding a problem before it could brew itself.

"Alchemists must know that nothing is sacred. While in Al-Revis we don't teach the art of utilizing humans as ingredients… Suffice to say, there are many a recipe that require them. More, in fact, than the ones that require Mana." Roxis explained. "Alchemy using sentient beings or their remains as ingredients has been outlawed for a very long time, however." He added.

"But then, the recipes in that book…"

"Are illegal to the eyes of most associations and families." Anna said, a small smile on her face. "To anyone knowledgeable about famous alchemists, however, it has the same value as a holy book."

"Hm? Why would that be?" Raze asked, genuinely curious.

"Because that was written by the greatest alchemist of all time." Spoke a sudden voice, dropping in from the darkness of the ceiling. A long, swishing and very red ponytail trailed a figure clad in a badass, torn longcoat who was wielding a humming weapon of great power.

Everyone cried out in surprise, except for the adults, who merely sighed at the interruption. "You were waiting for a cue, weren't you?" Anna asked, looking not unlike a mother scolding a child.

"He had us hiding in the darkness for four hours! FOUR!" Cried a blonde girl as she walked out of the darkness. "Never agreeing to something like this again!"

"I kinda like this place…" Mentioned Chloe as she observed the infinitely deep pit that surrounded the platform they were standing in. The whole room was lit only by the glow of the five portals that inhabited it, each of them at the end of a long and narrow bridge.

"Me too. It's like something out of a scary story." The ridiculously large Pepperoni spoke, looking around.

"Me three. This is the place where the romantic scenes after the narrow escape from certain death happen…" The cat-suited Goto added.

There was a sound not unlike metal against leather and then there was a bright silver flash. "Are you insane!?" yelled Anna, holding a blade to Flay's neck. "There's no way we can protect this many students on the way down!"

Flay laughed at that point. "That's not a problem! I brought reinforcements!" Flay spoke, grinning.

As if on cue (actually on cue), the ground shook, dust fell from the ceiling and the light dimmed ever so slightly. The temperature changed from 'slightly chilly' to 'typical tomb chill' and there was a sound not unlike thunder in the vicinity.

Everyone turned to what was visibly the source of the entire problem, the students drawing their weapons and preparing for combat as they did, as the dust began to spiral in the air, soon becoming a tornado that reached at least twice the height of the tallest man.

With another thunderclap, the dust quickly exploded in all directions and forced everyone to shield their eyes. The second the dust settled, everyone was shook from their stupor by the bright glow that was quickly taking humanoid form.

A slender frame was quickly made visible, covered by the most overly elaborate version of the Al-Revis uniform that any of the students had ever seen, turning it from a semi-practical outfit into what could only be described as a gothic Lolita dress. The figure's hands were clasped together for a few seconds before they expanded.

An orb of light rested between its fingers, though it quickly began to expand and take the form of…

… A pink teddy bear?!

"Hello, Pamela." Roxis and Anna chorused, deadpan.

"… So cool…" Chloe added.


	5. Fifth The Unexpected

In the expanse of darkness beneath the old schoolhouse, more than a dozen people were wandering down the only lit parts. The path down to Lot 60.

The extent of their elders' might was… unbelievable. Neither workshop could truly believe the displays they'd witnessed. They went far beyond the ridiculous. The fact that the Vice Principal was one of the most terrifying people on the planet was clear, but… He had gone above and beyond what had been expected of him.

Flay had displayed his strength, and the power of his weapon, by slicing apart the enemies that the others could but scratch. Ulrika had tried her hardest, utilizing Uryu's most powerful attack to toss all of her energy into an attack at once. It hadn't even ruffled the uber delinquent's hair.

Ulrika had been tired right then, and when Pepperoni and Goto jumped in to bail her out, they'd gotten two slaps with that strange slab of crystal on a handle that the girl was carrying and been tossed away like ragdolls. Then Flay swooped in and sliced her to pieces.

THAT was startling.

"She's not human." Flay stated, seeing their horrified stares. He pointed with his Pyre blade at the disappearing bloody remains, smirking as he did. "They're the revived spirits of some of the first students of Al-Revis, or copies of them anyway." Flay explained. "The uniforms have changed a lot since then."

A glasses-wearing boy wielding a scythe reminiscing of Mr. Tony's swooped in from above, ready to decapitate Mr. Flay. The students cried out in warning, but Flay merely smirked. He didn't move at all as the enemy descended, raising his scythe to slice Flay's head off…

… And exploded in a bright red flash.

A very happy call of "Teraflame!" Rang on the students' ears. "You're reckless as ever, Flay." Pamela remarked.

Four kobolds, ninja from their looks, all surrounded Flay, who still did not move.

As the Kobolds prepared to move forward, four silvery flashes heralded four rips in the very fabric of reality. From each rip stepped in a clone of the samurai girl, each of whom slashed at a kobold, slicing them in half and opening yet another rift, all of which they stepped through.

A brownie wielding a gigantic hammer appeared and charged at the two who were still standing there, at which point the real Anna appeared behind it. With a simple horizontal slash, she decapitated the brownie.

Jaws hit the floor at the display of coordinated fighting. The students were distracted, so they didn't see the speedy black humanoid lizard wielding a falchion that rushed their way. Lily gasped when a black blur appeared before her. The creature grasped the handle of its blade with both hands and slashed diagonally.

Whim grabbed Lily's elbow and pulled back, saving her from being sliced in half right then and there. The creature pivoted on its clawed feet and slashed at the next closest target, Raze, who blocked the rising attack with his dagger-turned-light sword. It was promptly knocked off its place, leaving Raze defenseless.

As the blade came down again, a greenish, transparent circle of energy appeared in front of Raze. The sword bounced harmlessly off the shield. "Don't get distracted." Roxis spoke, as Raze turned to the bespectacled teacher. Roxis' left hand was glowing the same color as the shield in front of Raze's face. With a quick movement, Roxis drew a deck of rather large cards from one of his teacher's coat's pockets and with a flick of his wrist, they shot off, linked as if chained by magic.

The cards quickly wrapped around the body of the creature which struggled uselessly for a few seconds.

"Finish it off!" Roxis commanded, as his mana appeared in a flash of light.

Suddenly, a column of light enveloped the black lizard and when it was gone, so was the lizard.

"You weren't kidding." Yun remarked. "Those things… are incredibly strong. Much stronger than their counterparts outside."

Flay appeared next to the fire mana. "Of course." He said.

Pamela giggled. "We're much closer to the source of their power. The closer we get to the bottom, the stronger the creatures will become."

"We need to train here to become stronger, Pepperoni." Goto remarked, pleased at the find of such a place in campus.

Pepperoni nodded. "I agree, my friend."

Roxis shook his head. "You need express permission from the principal to head down here. And even then, nobody is allowed down here without either me or Flay along for the ride." The Alchemy Theory professor spoke, crossing his arms. "And this is just the beginning… It's about to get even more grueling."

"Is the difference that big?" Asked Ulrika, tilting her head.

"Even this close to the entrance… it's saturated with mana power… I can't see it being much stronger." Chloe remarked.

"This?" Anna said, frowning. "We can dispatch these enemies in one hit more often than not." She said, looking at the distant movement and remaining fully alert. "From lot forty and on, they become tough enough that killing them like this becomes impossible."

Flay smirked. "At the very bottom, at lot sixty… Well, let's just say there's a reason we almost always come in as a group."

Raze narrowed his eyes. "But you said that you came here when you were our age." He countered. "How did you survive then? Were you that much stronger than us?"

Flay laughed boisterously, while Pamela giggled. Anna shook her head and Roxis merely sighed. "Not really."

Ulrika raised one eyebrow. "Really? But you seem so strong now…"

"We have a decade and a half of experience over you." Roxis stated, pushing up his glasses. "As well as vastly superior equipment."

"Puni, punii punini!" Many eyes shifted to Puni Jiro, who cleared his throat.

"My sister wants to know why your equipment is so much better than ours." He said.

Pamela smiled as she floated slightly above everyone else. "That's simple." She stated, raising the pink teddy bear she held and making its claws dance around. "You're wearing equipment crafted by students."

Anna nodded. "Talented though you might be, you're still not truly experienced enough to be on the level with an experienced alchemist. All of us are alchemists, and have been for more than a decade."

"But that's not it, is it?" Asked Lily, suddenly.

"I agree with Miss Lily." Whim began, rummaging through a bag of supplies to pull out a book. She opened it and leafed through its pages until she got to a specific one with a drawing of a multicolored chunk of ore. "Your equipment is made from the finest materials, gathered from here in the first place."

"Perceptive, aren't you?" A sudden voice broke out, as the figure of a woman dressed in green robes trimmed with white fur stepped forward from within the darkness. "But you're still wrong. Even if you utilize the same ingredients, you will not come upon the same result. Even if you tried your hardest."

"What!? Why? And… Who are you?" Ulrika quickly snapped at the new arrival.

"Hm. What a rude way to address your elders." A woman that was very clearly in her late forties spoke, crossing her arms under her chest. "But what else should I expect from your students, Flay?"

"Actually, she's one of mine." Roxis admitted, looking none too pleased at the fact. "Though she could learn to be a little more polite."

"You weren't very polite at her age either, Roxis." Spoke the woman in a rather amused tone.

"I had very few reasons to be polite to you, didn't I?" The prim and proper teacher fired back.

"You still didn't answer my question!" Ulrika said, blushing in part embarrassment and irritation.

"The answer is simple." The woman began, directing her gaze at Ulrika and showing disdain in the way her lips curled. "And it is not in the elements of their composition."

Enna coughed. "She's right. I've disassembled and reassembled the Pyre Blade Mr. Flay gave me many times and no matter what I do, I can't get it back to the level of performance it had when it was first assembled. I've analyzed each part in full and it goes beyond normal mechanical weapons. I have seen the ultimate fusion of alchemy and mechanics in it." The machine-oriented boy spoke, looking at the woman briefly before going back to Ulrika and then looking at Flay. "It's an alchemical weapon like no other, as you said."

"Don't worry." Flay said, handwaving his concern. "You will be as good as him one day."

Et, who'd been standing next to Enna, annoying him by playing with his hair, began tapping her lower lip. "But then he'd have to be a better mechanic than Enna…" She trailed off.

"Whoever made it probably is." Enna agreed.

The woman laughed. "Then what is it that makes such a huge difference?" Lily asked, clearly annoyed at the woman's clear and rather unflattering opinion of them.

"He was just that good as an alchemist." The robed woman said, simply and clearly.

"Who would have thought that you'd sing his praises, Isolde?" Flay asked and though his face sported a smile, his tone was anything but light.

"Particularly considering you're the one at fault for this whole mess in the first place. If it weren't for you…" Anna said, her tone cold and in her face a rather fierce scowl.

"I admit that I made mistakes and that I let my rage consume me. I blamed him for something that was never his fault." She said, shaking her head and laughing bitterly. "And he proved the better man by forgiving me for my irrational hatred. I can't say I've forgiven him, but I would never forgive myself if I didn't even try to make things right before I die."

"You weren't very afraid of death when you challenged us the last time." Spoke Roxis, blandly.

"I'm not afraid of death by combat." She said. "I do not intend to die in a dark underground complex."

"Then what did you refer to?" Pamela asked.

"It's simple. I need to do this now because it's clear that I'm getting too old for this shit."


End file.
